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The Connector Podcast - DFS 2022 - ITSME
Join the conversation with Sylvie Vandevelde from ITSMe. She talks about technology trends in the financial industry during the Digital Finance Summit 2022 in Brussels, organised and sponsored by Fintech Belgium.
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Koen Vanderhoydonk
koen.vanderhoydonk@jointheconnector.com
#FinTech #RegTech #Scaleup #WealthTech
Introduction 0:01
Welcome to the connector podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs banks and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets. This episode is proudly sponsored by
Sponsor 0:23
FinTech, Belgium, the digital finance Association by and for fintechs. Live from the digital finance summit 2020 to a
Koen Vanderhoydonk 0:33
Warm welcome Sylvie. Hello, I'm so pleased to have you on our podcast. And what is so brilliant is that today, it's the digital finance Summit here in Belgium, a lot of people a lot of things are buzzing, and I get some personal time with you. Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and what you do?
Sylvie Vandevelde 0:53
So my name is Silvia and the welder. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer at it's me and also spokesperson. And I started working at it's mean 2016. So before we were able to say the word out loud.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 1:06
Haha, so you were part of the initial team? If I may say yet. Yeah. So are you like the employee with the number?
Sylvie Vandevelde 1:15
Maybe number five or six? I should check that.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 1:19
Okay, well, very pleased to have you in our podcast today. And we will talk a little bit about well, it's me, but also technology in general. So yeah, we heading towards the end of 2022. And a lot has happened in the tech space. So I was wondering, how do you look at while 2023 in the future in technology?
Sylvie Vandevelde 1:42
Well, for me, technology is something that needs to evolve together with the needs of the, the society we're living in. So technology is evolving fast, sometimes a little bit too fast for a lot of persons. But I think we need to use the technology at its best. And we have seen some great revolutions in the past and in the last few years that we can actually enable better ones in the future.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 2:07
And then do you see any particular trends in like technology, certain technology stacks or solutions that are gaining more traction than others?
Sylvie Vandevelde 2:17
Well, that is me. We're also looking at biometrics. So to see how we can actually use biometrics to secure also digital identity or the KYC process or the onboarding process. And not only security, but make it easier, especially when you change bone, because that happens quite a lot. So we are we're actually looking to the new technologies coming into the market. There are some really great ones. And in biometrics, I think they're great evolutions
Koen Vanderhoydonk 2:42
are cool. I guess we'll hear more about that later in this talk. Now, for me, looking back in time, since I already started with that question, Corona has changed a lot in our industry. And and some say that it kickstart digital transformation. So you are a company that deal with a lot of the financial institutions that deal with and customer. So maybe a bit of a sneaky question. But do you see a difference in like Digital Adaptation between different companies and you don't have to call names obviously.
Sylvie Vandevelde 3:16
Well, actually, I would not say that COVID kickstarted, it's just accelerated it. We saw also in the number of interactions that it's me. So in March 2019, we were around 3 million interaction per month. One year later, it was 6,000,001. year later, it was 13,000,001. year later, it was 25 million. So actually, we see that the acceleration continues. He didn't stop, we had some peaks around 35 million, its mean directions in one month. So it was not kickstarted it was accelerated. And I think it was a very good thing that we started before COVID, because we could help a lot of companies in the financial industry, for example, because we were all at home. So the KYC process, opening a bank account, securing your bank account was not possible anymore, because all the branches were closed. So we could help all our partners to do that. From well from where they were from home from somewhere else. So we were very happy that we could play that role in 2020. So at the first part, and in 2021, when it was more of a COVID Save moments where we all need the app and the QR code to go on holiday. So there we had also a second impact. It was not in the financial sector, but it was more in our society.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 4:33
You already answered my question, because I was thinking like there's a lot of figures in the financial industry, but it makes me go so much further than financial institutions. And I think that's part of the growth formula. And you basically just explained it, why are there any other growth factors that you would see in that exponential growth that you just elaborate a little bit of?
Sylvie Vandevelde 4:57
Well, I think it was also the way that we can continue Julius, it's me, it needs to be for everyone and for every sector, so the interoperability was important. So it's not only financial sector, the government sector, but also the insurances, the health sector, we also have the online gaming sector also very strictly regulated. But you could also book flights with its me. So there are many use cases, we have around 24 different sectors, I think. So it was very important to be interoperable between different industries, because identity is important everywhere, but in a different matter.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 5:33
Okay, well, thank you for clarifying that. So we'll come back to my cheesy question. It's about comparing. So now, now, you told us that there's many industries that you serve? Do you see a difference between those industries, and again, you don't have to name call names.
Sylvie Vandevelde 5:52
I think there is a digital maturity is different. It's like different countries with different industries, some some industries a little bit further, it also depends on the financial power of each industry. We also in the healthy, the sweet, a little bit more difficult to, to have the same financial power, I would say that in the banking industry, or the financial industry. And the maturity can be different, but we see them all evolve, in a very good way. And also with with citizen in mind. So that's also a thing that we like to see that is very much user centric, and thinking about this privacy and insecurity and inconvenience.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 6:30
Interesting. And maybe you open up another debates, while we as Belgians at least we know it's me as or product to login, to sign and to other stuff. But you also now set that there are different countries involved. So does that mean that it's me? It's going outside his own boundaries? Can you tell us a little bit more about
Sylvie Vandevelde 6:53
where we already with one step I would say yeah, to the north to the to the Netherlands. Also thanks to technology, we were talking about technology and how it makes things easier and faster. Because in the Netherlands, they have an NFC ID cards. And so we're using that technology next to biometrics to to onboard our Dutch citizens into the IDS me app. So we started in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, we also follow. So actually, once you have a digital identity as it's me that you log in as a Belgian or Dutch or Luxembourg and citizen, it's always the same action. And also the qualified electronic signature, we are actually quite unique for that in in Europe is that we will combine identity services and signing services within one app.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 7:38
And then between the lines is the ambition is to go across the other countries as well. So that's it's not only Benelux, nicely, it's called the Benelux the countries you mentioned. But it's also to go abroad. That's depending on the speed of the other countries, I would say is that right?
Sylvie Vandevelde 7:55
It's not only the speed of the other countries, but also speed of legislation. So we have the ADAs regulation for the moment. And they're working on a new version, where it actually when you recognize the one country, you could also serve the citizens of other countries for the moment it's country based. So we are recognized as a level of assurance, high identity mean for Belgians but not for in the Netherlands, not in Luxembourg, because it needs to be a recognition country by country. So the new regulation will also make sure that once you're recognized in one country, all the other countries will recognize it the same that is today for qualified signatures. So our qualified signatures are recognized all over Europe. So it will help us to go border temperatures Belgium.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 8:37
I'm happy to clarify that because I learned something today also, because for me I eat us was already one of the first regulations that literally hit was crossing borders. But then this was specifically on qualified signatures or maybe not on identity. I didn't know that.
Sylvie Vandevelde 8:52
And that's the first part then it's very linked to governments. So actually, it's me has been recognized in December 2019 on European level. So it means that as a Belgium, if you're living in France, and you want to log in at French public service, you click on the ADAs button, and then you see actually the EAD card. Oh, it's me, because these are the two recognized ones.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 9:14
Super, super nice. Maybe a little bit of a sidetrack and taking towards a more global discussion. A lot of things have happened in the realms of KYC. And, yeah, it feels for me that we are heading into a new kind of KYC I call it maybe 2.0. But it can cover a lot of things. How do you look at it? Do you see KYC changing and have you experienced any changes in the market?
Sylvie Vandevelde 9:43
Well, I think we accelerated the KYC process because we utilize X ray identities. So the only ones moment you only have to do your KYC once that it's mean then you can reuse it at at each partner of its me. And I think it will evolve because it's not To only about identity, there are much more data that are needed when you do a KYC process, especially in the banks, but also in other sectors. If you go to the rental sector, you need to have your identity but also your driving license. So I think that KYC will evolve and that other data are needed during your onboarding process. So we are looking at at these elements to we want to stay of course in identity, but we want to link with the right attributes, that actually a user could do everything in just one click on one confirmation instead of gathering all the information to onboard.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 10:33
Well, well, that's on its own right. Everyone talks about blockchain. And I don't want to bring up the blockchain blockchain discussion, but more of the philosophy where where you bring data collectively together, and you basically use it from one single source. And that makes a lot of sense also in KYC. Now, I guess one of the challenges is not only on individual level, but also on legal entities. Is that a domain that it's Miss looking at? Or is it deliberate choice not to go there?
Sylvie Vandevelde 11:04
Now, actually, we're looking at but we will never do it alone. Because we really think that collaboration is important. Everybody has also is all strength. And it's actually linking the right data to the right source. Because all the stories about who has a company and who is the legal owner of the company, you need to know who is the person and then launch to the right company. It's the same for the company for mandates for driving license for health information. So that's why we're looking at it in a hybrid form. So the digital identity will stay centralized. But all the other information, the attributes, the mandates, will be decentralized, because they have also their own lifecycle management, you could be the CEO of a company today and having tomorrow another company or having another CEO. So this has also a lifecycle management that needs to be handled in the data source is all within that each data needs to be in its source and needs to be handled there with sharing this data in a secure way, something where that is me wants to handle on
Koen Vanderhoydonk 12:03
the thing that makes sense. And I think you're definitely right with the the cyclists type of behavior in terms of ultimate beneficial owners. And also there there is legislation that forces countries to come out with lists, but unfortunately, not all countries are doing at the same pace. So it is a challenge for the industry. And it's also some of these discussions that are very tough to understand for a bank, because they're like, why is it not there? That's simply not there for various reasons. So it's nice to hear that also you guys are working on that.
Sylvie Vandevelde 12:37
But it's challenging for everyone, also for governments, because they own the data, how they can open up the data in a secure way and that it's readable for everyone. The data structure is also most of the time, a very huge challenge. Absolutely. And
Koen Vanderhoydonk 12:49
to keep it up to date, and you name it. Well, Sylvia, what what is interesting about the story about it's me, you gave us figures, exponential growth. But I saw on the website that you collaborate with so many different types of clients, financials SMEs, while you name it. So I was wondering myself, what has been the secret sauce? Is it the technology? Or has it been the collaboration with all these people?
Sylvie Vandevelde 13:17
That's a good question. Actually, it's about planets that need to be aligned, because you have the planet where you have legislation and government. But the time is a really big planet that's not moving really fast. But it's an important one, because they will put the regulation into place and the governance, you have the technology is going very fast. And I would say in between you have also the users and the citizen. And I think that's the magic of it was timing, having the right partners around the table, everybody also open minded to work to a higher purpose. It was not only for the banking sector, not only for the telco sector, not only for the government, but it was for society, and it was for the citizen. So I think working on a higher purpose is also very important. And then having the integrity, the way that we handle data, in the world of marketing, they always think that it's Disneyland, that is me because I have so much data. And when I tell them that I don't have access to the data that is encrypted, and that even our website is cookieless they get crazy. But the way that we handle data, our integrity, the security and the privacy was also very important to create trust, trust that the end users but also trust that the companies who would use it's me, because we will not actually be profiling everyone to see how we could play a big data player role. So I think these are the different components and maybe, you know, sense of luck.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 14:43
I'll get that out.
Sylvie Vandevelde 14:46
No, but sometimes, you know, in the stars needs to be aligned and it's the right moments and it's the right place.
Koen Vanderhoydonk 14:52
No, I totally agree. There's there's a high level of serendipity in the world and then sometimes it's hard to put your finger on things right so I
Sylvie Vandevelde 15:00
was watching the right trends and then knowing when you have to hop on the trend, we're
Koen Vanderhoydonk 15:05
talking a bit about trends. We now today at DFS, what have been your findings, as the last comment of this podcast will be what what what did you like so far?
Sylvie Vandevelde 15:15
How? Well it's the whole discussion about open data. And that that was I was following. It was really nice to see that there was actually a balance between how can we make a better economy? How can we meet for personal towards the end user that you have a very personal experience, but at the same time, keeping privacy. So it's always a balance that we know what it means a very tough one, to to keep. But I really liked the fact that I could hear it also. And it was not only about the data sharing or data and exploiting the data, it was about handling in a very fair and and for your higher purpose. So I really liked that one. Well, I
Koen Vanderhoydonk 15:55
appreciate that you bring up the purpose in life a couple of times in this discussion. So, Sylvia, I would like to thank you so much for your contribution to this podcast. It has been a pleasure for me. Thank you for the invitation. Are you welcome. It's not only me, it's also due to our sponsor, FinTech, Belgium. So also to the listeners. Thank you very much for tuning in. And please stay tuned because more will come in this channel. So looking forward to hear from you. Thank you so much.
Outro 16:24
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